by Destine Williams

It’s only 8:20 AM and the battlefield is quiet.

A lone tumbleweed rolls across the barren land just like a blockbuster western, but today you’re not here to stop and smell the cliches.

Today you are here to fight.

The only ones left in the resistance are you, your editor, a handful of beta readers, and Joe, but Joe’s Wednesday schedule is sketchy so he might have to leave early.

And it’s all of you (Joe being tentative) versus your novel.

You survey the land quietly. The wind kicks up dust and in the wake of it you see something moving. You squint.

What is that?